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Roblox (Windows, Mac OS X)

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This page details pre-release information and/or media for Roblox (Windows, Mac OS X).

This article has just been started and needs the article basics added.
Help us out and add them.

To do:
Add lots more information about all builds. Literally everything was radically different before early 2006, need to explain this.

Development Timeline#

2003#

  • November/December − Roblox begins development.

2004#

  • January 30th - The Roblox domain is purchased.
    • March 23rd - Roblox is incorporated in Delaware.
    • June 30th - Testing officially begins, and the earliest 2 known users are created.
    • July
      • David Baszucki and Erik Cassel create their accounts.
      • An account simply called "greg" is made, marking the first non-admin account made.
      • The earliest known game, Spasmotron vs. Wimpotron2, is made.
    • November 5th - The earliest known model, "child on skateboard" is made.
    • Date unknown - Controllers are added, which would be a feature until early 2009.

2005#

  • February 11th − Beta testing officially begins.
    • Around March - Screenshots from the patent are taken around this time.
    • May
      • The first Roblox patent is filed.
      • ROBLOX account created.
    • June
      • The "Steer the Spheres" contest begins.
      • Roblox is first released to the public for about a month.
      • John Doe and Jane Doe accounts created.
    • July 14th - Roblox presumably closes to allow a massive overhaul to begin.
    • July 28th - The Morgan McGuire screenshots were taken around this time.
    • Around August - Minigames are removed. Humanoids begin development around this time.
    • October 4th - face.png/shirt.png is created. If so, then the headmesh was perhaps added on that day, perhaps

                as with the Player controller. Those alone would, perhaps on that day as a result lead birth to what is now dubbed Figure0.

    • October 22nd-27th - The Morgan McGuire screenshots were uploaded to his website around this time.

2006#

  • January 9th - Figure0 may have been ditched for Figure1-8 around this time.
  • January 10th - Brickcolor is introduced.
  • February 27th - A glitch causes all users prior to February 28th to have this date as their join date. Plausible

                 this may have been due to databases changes

    • March
      • The Builderman account is created.
      • 23rd - v0.2.123 is released.
      • 24th - v0.2.135 is released.
      • The starter place is updated, changing its name from "room_environment_blue" to "(Player)'s Place".
    • April
      • Roblox completes beta testing. The game is unofficially released.
      • 14th - v0.2.144.0 is released.
    • June
      • 5th - v0.3.030 is released, adding multiplayer.
      • 10th - v0.3.041 is released.
      • 16th - v0.3.046 is released.
      • John Shedletsky joins the Roblox staff as the first Roblox employee.
    • July
      • Earliest known footage of Roblox recorded by Shedletsky, demonstrating the bomb item.
      • Jumping is added.
      • 14th - v0.3.070 is released.
    • August
      • Roblox servers are moved.
      • 16th - v0.3.147 is released.
    • September
      • Roblox is officially released.
      • Multiplayer games can now be made by anyone.
      • 28th - v0.3.218 is released.
    • October
      • Searching for Places, People, and Models was added.
      • 25th - v0.3.230 is released.
      • The earliest known video of Roblox on YouTube, called "Chaos Canyon Firefight" is uploaded.
    • November
      • Places could now be set to be for friends only, or for everyone.
      • 12th - v0.3.245.0 is released.
    • December
      • The Roblox Blog is created, all future updates are posted there.
      • Roblox reaches 10,000 users.
      • Roblox Badges (Official ones, not player-made ones) first appeared.
      • 1st - v0.3.252.0 is released.
      • 2nd - v0.3.253.0 is released.
      • 20th - v0.3.264.0 is released.
      • 28th - v0.3.263.0 was released, possibly on accident, or as a rollback due to a bug. v0.3.266.0 is released the same day.

2007#

    • January
      • 9th - Administrator badge, Personal message history, and notifications revealed
      • 12th - Robloxians, specifically Administrators, can now color their bodies and wear T-Shirts

Videos and Media - Early Development#

To do:
Add more information.

The logo used from 2005.

At this time, ROBLOX was just beginning to be playable. A setpiece was created, and would become the avatar in later builds. Compared to the more recent versions, it had a bigger, circular head, and their torso was split in two to add a stripe. The character was supposedly in a vehicle and you needed to drive them over to another block in order to exceed. Where's my face?

ROBLOX - Chaos Canyon Firefight#

To do:
Give more detail about every single part of the game.

ROBLOXPrerelease_2006Logo.png

Watch on YouTubeThis version of ROBLOX is the first publicly visual video from this time. Differences include no animations, your entire character model being interactable with the environment unlike the present where your arms and legs aren't interactable. An early zoom in and out option is also available at the bottom right of the screen. A top bar showing Help... Fullscreen Exit are the only options in this build of the game. There is a different camera for zooming in and out as well as walking. There is also an early health bar at the right-hand side of the screen. Places needed to regenerate because it would reduce lag in the game. There is also an early cursor. This build is still very early and was needed to be worked on. No shaders were in the game either than the shine of the sun reflecting off the character. There weren't any animations either. Surprisingly, the sun already had sun-rays at this point in development. The moon was also visible in the day and wasn't transparent. It wasn't until November once the game had its first trailer.

ROBLOX - Game Trailer#

Another early version. This one includes more early icons we don't get to see in the more recent releases. We can see that Toolbox and Edit Mode were also added in for ROBLOX Studio. We can also now hear sounds from the game. The music used in this video is The Great Strategy, composed by badliz in 2005. At this time, the game was more complete.

Watch on YouTube

Credits#

https://roblox.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Roblox_history/2007

Roblox August Trailer#

This video is one of the rarest Roblox trailers made by clockwork, by far one of the most well-remembered admins of all time. Sadly, he was only a Summer intern in 2007 and 2008, and he hasn't been seen working for it since then. People who remember him do because of his obsession with teapots, and his trademarked "Teapot Turret" but it once had scripts but it got removed in late 2021.

Watch on YouTube

iOS Footage#

Early development footage of the Roblox client running on IPad uploaded to Roblox's official YouTube channel.

Jan 14, 2012

Watch on YouTube

  • You could only tap & hold on certain parts of the screen to move. Jumping was possibly not implemented yet.
  • The skybox's textures are missing.
  • UI is pretty bare bones.
  • Shirts, pants and other accessories haven't been implemented yet.
  • Stud textures are missing.

Oct 12, 2012

Watch on YouTube

  • Mobile controls have been finished. The jump button is implemented and shown as a green button with white text saying "Jump".
  • The skybox's textures are added.
  • The backpack has been added.
  • Opening the application now shows the Roblox logo with a red city background.
  • There's no app icon.
  • Animations are now mysteriously missing.

Oct 25, 2012

Watch on YouTube

  • UI is almost finished. The jump button's graphic has changed again to a gradient circle with an arrow on it, similar to what it looks like in the old Jump button.
  • The UI looks similar to the mid 2009 client as shown in 0:33.
  • Animations have been added back in.